Anchor Buddy Use-Case?

I know a lot of people on here promote these...Anchor Buddys...when are these needed?

Only for people that anchor close to shore, is that the benefit? So you can be on-shore and your boat can float out away from the rocks?

If you only anchor in deep coves (20-50 feet) is there any need for this, or benefit of it's elasticity over a standard line and anchor setup??? I have 2 30lb river anchors, one of the bow and one of the stern on regular anchor line currently.

hoping for more than just "anchor buddy rocks", i'm wondering if in my case where i only anchor in middle of water, and not shore if it's value is worth it.

I've personally never used one, but I would imagine the elasticity makes it useful for when it is really choppy & windy and you want to stay in one spot. (If it is that windy, we're not out anyway. )

I use mine to keep the boat off-shore if we are sitting on the beach. I mainly use it on the houseboat. Keeps the boat away from the HB. Just pull the boat in to get on or load up. Don't like my boat tied up against the houseboat.

I use mine in both applications. Granted the deeper the water gets, the less effecient it is until its unusable. You really don't want to use it deeper than 40'. I think at that point you would go to a traditional anchor line.

I use it all the time, shore or cove. Never had an issue using it.

When we tie off in deeper water, I typically don't want the boat floating very far from where we set it initially. With the Anchor Buddy, the boat tends to stretch it back & forth with the wind & waves over an area of maybe 20' or more.

Like others have said, we use the Anchor Buddy to pull the boat towards the anchor & away from something (shore, rocks, houseboat, etc.), yet have a static rope to keep the boat inline & easy to retrieve.

Anchor buddy to the bow eye, transom tied with 10' of rope to the houseboat. Pull the boat in and load up. Don't worry about things banging into each other when it's moored.

TJ,

I guess it depends on where you anchor, or if you anchor at all. Some places you might just go dock to dock and rarely use an anchor. As well, many just beach their rides. If you are lake boaters, you might run out to a beach, cove, or even a houseboat. I'm not so sure it's a good application for a river. Someone else would have to chime in.

Personally, I use my Anchor Buddy every weekend. Once we arrive at the cove of our choice, it is one of the first things in the water after unloading passengers and chairs.

I put the anchor in out from shore so that when almost fully stretched, the stern of the boat is in water deep enough not to strike the prop, but shallow enough that I can hop off from the swim platform, and wade to shore. Another thing I do is attach a buoy ball to the hook end of the anchor line. Make sure the water is not so deep that the buoy will reach the surface otherwise, it might be the last you see of your anchor.

Many, myself included use a second rope that runs from the rear grab bar or D ring to shore. This is the rope that pulls the boat in when we want to board.

It's really a great setup for keeping the boat off the beach, the speakers pointed at the party, and makes for easy retrieval of the boat. Another plus is when parked bow out, the occasional large rollers are cut by the bow. When parked stern out, the rollers could swamp a low deadrise boat (rare, but possible). The bungee affect allows the boat to ride the rollers without pulling hard on the anchor, possibly dislodging it from the lake bed.

When we head out to board, someone pulls the boat in so passengers can wade out. When we are ready to go, we unhook the stern line. The bungee pulls out out from shore. We unhook the bow and leave the anchor and buoy in the water. This also serves as a marker to other boats that someone anchors there.

When we return, it's a simple game of water ballet. Someone on the bow grabs the buoy and clips on our anchor line. At the same time the driver is turning the boat, swinging the stern around to shore. With a small amount of reverse, the stern is momentarily pulled closer to shore. As the momentum is stretching the anchor buddy, quickly turn off the engine, and then someone steps off the stern to secure the shore line. Some people attach their shore line to the anchor buoy on their way out. This way, they have both lines already, and they can pull themselves into shore when they return.

toneus- you said it. It's exactly what we do with ours. It's great for near the shore, we haven't used it in deep water.

best 29 dollars you will ever spend on your boat